Orlando Magic roar back on the road, beat Dallas for 9th straight victory

January 9, 2011|By Josh Robbins, Orlando Sentinel

DALLAS — How fitting that the Orlando Magic tied a franchise record Saturday night by doing all the things that got them there in the first place.

Fueled by Hedo Turkoglu's smart play-making, the Magic overcame a 16-point deficit late in the second quarter and defeated the Dallas Mavericks 117-107 in front of a sellout crowd inside American Airlines Center.

The victory extended Orlando's winning streak to nine games, tying a team record first set in 1994.

"It's a little bit unexpected from my standpoint," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team added four new players and jettisoned four others through trades on Dec. 18.

"I thought it would take a lot longer to be playing at the level we are. Clearly, our defense is not where it needs to be, but our guys have come together and played with pretty good chemistry for a team that hasn't been together long. I have to give them a lot of credit for that. It's impressive."

No one played more impressively Saturday night than Turkoglu, who dished out a career-high 17 assists and is enjoying a career renaissance in his second tour with the Magic.

Appropriately enough, Turkoglu sparked a decisive run in which the Magic outscored the Mavericks 26-3.

Turkoglu and his ol' buddy Dwight Howard ran the pick-and-roll perfectly with the Magic trailing 85-82 early in the fourth quarter.

As Howard rolled into the lane, Turk drove toward the basket and pulled up for a jumper just above the free-throw line as he absorbed a foul by DeShawn Stevenson. The ball swished through the net and Turk made the foul shot to tie the game.

On Orlando's next possession, Turk recorded his 13th assist of the night when he fed the ball to Ryan Anderson for a wide-open 3-pointer.

The Magic led 88-85.

They never trailed again.

"I'm happy that I'm being able to do the things I'm good at and I'm helping the team to win the game," said Turkoglu, who also scored 13 points and added five steals. "Right now, I'm just good with the ball and am creating a lot of opportunities for my teammates. I'm just blessed that they've given me that opportunity again."

He had plenty of help.

Six teammates scored in double figures, led by Howard, who added a team-high 23 points to go along with his game-high 13 rebounds.

The Magic now have gone seven consecutive games with at least six players scoring in double figures. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the longest such streak in the NBA in the last 18 seasons.

"I'm not surprised at all," said newcomer Jason Richardson, who scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half. "If you look at the guys we have on the team, you've got a lot of guys that came from other teams averaging 22 or 23 points a game."

It wasn't easy Saturday, though.

Howard picked up his second foul with 4:07 left in the first quarter when he drove across the lane and made contact with Tyson Chandler. Howard couldn't believe the call, and his exasperated reaction nearly led to his 12th technical of the season. Referee Tony Brothers told Howard to cool it.

Howard returned to the game to start the second quarter, and he remained in until he was whistled for his third personal with 3:04 to go in the half.

Dallas led 50-34 after Shawn Marion made the two ensuing free throws.

But with Howard out of the game -- and Anderson, Richardson, Turkoglu, Brandon Bass and Jameer Nelson on the court -- the Magic trimmed the lead to 57-51 at halftime.

The Mavs (26-10) were playing without two key injured players, perennial MVP candidate Dirk Nowitzki and swingman Caron Butler.

Dallas suffered another setback when a referee whistled Chandler, the team's linchpin on defense, for his fourth foul midway through the third quarter.

He eventually fouled out, and his coach, Rick Carlisle, would be ejected midway through the fourth quarter for arguing with the refs.

As Carlisle left the court and entered the tunnel on the way to his locker room, he knocked over a trash can, creating a loud crash that could be heard courtside.

"I didn't like the officiating, obviously, but that's as much as I'm going to say about it," Carlisle said later. "I think calls you disagree with are one of the realities of this league, and when you really disagree a lot, you get thrown out of the game."

By then, Turkoglu and the Magic (25-12) already had taken control.

"Seventeen assists for anybody is incredible, but a 6-10 forward with 17 assists?" Van Gundy said. "That's a phenomenal, phenomenal game. He made a lot of plays for us."

Read Josh Robbins' blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.